Pullela Gopichand

Pullela Gopichand (born 16 November 1973) is a former Indian badminton player. Presently, he is the Chief National Coach for the Indian Badminton team. He won the All England Open Badminton Championships in 2001[3] becoming the second Indian to achieve this feat after Prakash Padukone.[4][5] He runs the Gopichand Badminton Academy.[5] He received the Arjuna Award in 1999, the Dronacharya Award in 2009 and the Padma Bhushan – India's third highest civilian award – in 2014.[6][7]

In this Telugu name, the surname is Pullela.

Pullela Gopichand
Personal information
CountryIndia
Born (1973-11-16) 16 November 1973
Nagandla, Prakasam
Andhra Pradesh, India
Height1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Weight68 kg (150 lb)
HandednessRight
Men's Singles
Highest ranking5[2] (15 March 2001)
Medal record
Men's badminton
Representing  India
Asian Championships
2000 Jakarta Men's singles
Commonwealth Games
1998 Kuala Lumpur Men's team
1998 Kuala Lumpur Men's singles
BWF profile

Early life

Pullela Gopichand was born on 16 November 1973 to Pullela Subash Chandra and Pullela Subbaravamma, in Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh.[8] Initially, he was interested in playing cricket, but his elder brother encouraged him to take up badminton instead.[8] His family settled in Nizamabad for a while. He did his schooling from St. Paul's High School, Hyderabad. He joined A. V. College, Hyderabad and graduated in public administration. He was the captain of the Indian combined universities badminton team in 1990 and 1991.

Playing career

Pullela was coached by S. M. Arif before Prakash Padukone accepted him at Prakash Padukone academy . He also trained under Ganguly Prasad at the SAI Bangalore.[9][10] Pullela won his first National Badminton Championship title in 1996, and went on to win the title five times in a row, until 2000. He won two gold and one silver at the Indian national games, 1998 held at Imphal. At the international level, he represented India in 3 Thomas Cup tournaments. In 1996 he won a gold in the SAARC badminton tournament at Vijayawada and defended the crown in the next games held at Colombo in 1997. At the 1998 Commonwealth Games, he won a silver in the team event and a bronze in men's singles.

In 1999, he won the Toulouse open championship in France and the Scottish open championship in Scotland. He also emerged winner at the Asian satellite tournament held at Hyderabad in the same year, and lost in the final match of the German grand prix championship.

In 2001, he won the prestigious All England Open Badminton Championships at Birmingham. He defeated then world number one Peter Gade in the semi-finals before defeating Chen Hong of China to lift the trophy.[11] He became the second Indian to achieve the feat after Prakash Padukone, who won in 1980.[12]

Achievements

Asian Championships

Men's singles

Year Venue Opponent Score Result
2000 Istora Senayan, Jakarta, Indonesia Taufik Hidayat 4–15, 12–15 Bronze

Commonwealth Games

Men's singles

Year Venue Opponent Score Result
1998 Kuala Lumpur Badminton Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Wong Choong Hann 1–15, 11–15 Bronze

IBF World Grand Prix

The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation (IBF) from 1983 to 2006.

Men's singles

Year Tournament Opponent Score Result
1997 India Open Hariyanto Arbi 4–15, 7–15[13] Runner-up
1999 French Open Chen Gang 8–15, 15–10, 10–15[14] Runner-up
1999 German Open Xia Xuanze 3–15, 15–13, 4–15[15] Runner-up
2001 All England Open Chen Hong 15–12, 15–6[16] Winner

IBF International

Men's singles

Year Tournament Opponent Score Result
1999 Le Volant d'Or de Toulouse Richard Vaughan 15–13, 14–15, 15–6[17] Winner
1999 Scottish Open Siddharth Jain 15–7, 15–10[18] Winner
1999 India International Ajit Wijetilek 15–6, 15–13[19] Winner
2004 India Asian Satellite J. B. S. Vidyadhar 15–6, 15–1[20] Winner

Coaching career
Pullela (left) and Kidambi Srikanth (middle) with the Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Vijay Goel, c. 2017.

After retiring from his playing career, Pullela founded the Gopichand Badminton Academy in 2008, after reportedly mortgaging his own house.[21] Nimmagadda Prasad, a renowned industrialist donated ₹50 million (US$700,000) on a condition to win a medal for India at Olympics in badminton.[22] The academy produced several badminton players including Saina Nehwal, P. V. Sindhu, Sai Praneeth, Parupalli Kashyap, Srikanth Kidambi, Arundhati Pantawane, Gurusai Datt and Arun Vishnu.[23] Saina Nehwal went on to win the bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics and P. V. Sindhu the silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics and first Indian to win the BWF World Championships. Pullela also served as the official Indian Olympic Badminton Team coach at the 2016 Brazil's Rio Olympic.[21]

Awards and honours
Pullela (left) is awarded the Padma Shri by President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, c. 2005.

Personal life

Pullela married fellow badminton player P. V. V. Lakshmi on 5 June 2002.[29] They have two children, a daughter named Gayathri and a son.

References
  1. "Pulella Gopichand". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  2. "Historical Ranking". Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  3. "Pulella Gopichand". mapsofindia.com. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  4. "P Gopichand". The Times of India. 11 December 2002. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  5. "Pullela Gopichand – The Founder". Gopichand Badminton Academy. Archived from the original on 24 February 2010. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  6. "LIST OF ARJUNA AWARD WINNERS". Archived from the original on 25 December 2007. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
  7. "Pullela Gopichand thanks Badminton Fraternity for Padma Bhushan". IANS. Biharprabha News. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  8. "Pullela Gopichand – Badminton Player". webindia123.com. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  9. "His hard work and dedication has paid off". The Tribune. 11 March 2001. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
  10. "Still a crusader". The Tribune. 15 April 2001. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
  11. Our Correspondent in Birmingham (10 March 2001). "Gopichand enters All-England final". rediff.com. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  12. "Randhawa's wait for Padma Shri ends". The Tribune. 26 January 2005. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
  13. "India Open 1997 (I): Draws: MS". Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  14. "French Open 1999 (I): Draws: MS". Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  15. "German Open 1999 (I): Draws: MS". Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  16. "All England Open 2001 (I): Draws: MS". Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  17. "Open de Toulouse Int 99 (I): Draws: MS". Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  18. "Scottish Int 1999 (I): Draws: MS". Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  19. "India International 99 (I): Draws: MS". Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  20. "Indian Asian Satellite 2004: Draws: MS". Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  21. "How Indian badminton rocketed on the Gopichand shuttle". The Hindu. 20 August 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  23. Dua, Aarti (1 August 2010). "Star maker". The Telegraph. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
  25. "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  27. IANS (19 August 2016). "Rio 2016: BAI announces cash awards for 'Silver' Sindhu, Coach Gopichand". mykhel.com. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  28. "National Sports Awards to be Presented on 31st August, 2013". pib.nic.in. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  29. "Gopichand to wed Lakshmi".
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